A Comparative Study of the Melanesian Island Languages

GRAMMAR OF THE VANIKOLO LANGUAGE

i. Alphabet
i. Vowels: a, e, i, o, u.

Consonants: w; r, 1; k, g, g, n; t, d, n; j, n; p, b, m, m;
f, v; s. z.
Compound Consonants: gw, kw, pw.

2. Sounds. The g is hard as in ' go ' ; g as ng in ' finger ' ; n as
ng in 'sing'; d as nd; j as tch (?); n as in Spanish (written gn
by the Rev. C. E. Fox) ; b as mb ; m nasal.

The Rev. W. G. Ivens writes q for the sounds of the com-
pound consonant, and for p, v and b for p, a for e final, i for e,
and e for i ; also w for m in waunevie for mounepie. Gaimard
wrote ou for u, nh for n, and gn for n 1 .

2. Article

3. A few words appear with an article na y tie or ni: namaga,
fish, nadeliy dung; nebele> body, nemeloe, rainbow, neverue, year;
mmna, wind; nepie, fire.

Dr Ivens doubts the existence of the article.

Some words appear with the Polynesian article te: tetaula,

1 In this grammar words in ( ) are from Dr Ivens, those in [ ] from
Gaimard, and the remainder from Dr Fox.

456 The Santa Cruz Archipelago [ PT

anchor; tekumete, wooden bowl; ieldkdti, ClUu; MUlU; juice,
oil; tepetUy planet; tepata, stage of house; tekatu, basket, etc.
In these article and word alike are Polynesian.

Nouns denoting round objects begin with fe: felemere, ab-
scess; fegure y ant; fenere, areca nut; fedue y coconut; fedene,
pineapple ; fese y seed; fenugale y bat.

3, Nouns

4. There are two classes. One takes suffixed pronouns in the
possessive, the other is used with possessive words.

5. Number. The plural signs are abia or abie y many, and
mar ana: kwili abie {qile abia) y trees, {nili abia) great multitude.

4. Pronouns

6. Personal. Full forms used as subject:

Sing. 1. none. Plur. 1 inch gitu (gidu). Dual 1 incl. gita(gida).

2. ago. 1 excl. gamttu (gamidu). 1 excl. gema.

3. nam. 2. gaiva (gaeva). 2. gamila.

3. detu. 3. dea.

Short forms suffixed to verbs as object:
Sing. 2. go.

7. Short forms suffixed to nouns in possessive:

Sing. 1. na y n. Plur. 1 incl. gitori (girore). Dual 1 incl. giteri.

2. mi{tnie). 1 excl. mitori (mitore). 1 excl. meri.

3. ii{ie). 2. iveli(dore). 2. mieri.

3. ditori (ditore). 3. deri.

Dr Fox has :

Sing. 1. aluana, my brother. Plur. 1 incl. alua gitori.

2. aluamty thy brother. 1 excl. alua mitori.

3. aluaiiy his brother. 2. alua iveli.

3. alua ditori.

Dual 1 incl. alua giteri.
1 excl. alua meri.

2. alua mieri.

3. alua deri.

Pwapwana, pwapwami, (qaqana y my mother; qaqamie y thy
mother).

These forms are not suffixed to all nouns of the first class,
i.e. names of parts of the body and relatives. The word for

n] The Santa Cruz Archipelago 457

'tongue/ mea> is used with the full pronoun following (except
second singular no for ago).

Sing.

I.

mea nane.

Plur. 1 inch

mea gitu. Dual i inch

mea gita.

2.

mea no.

1 excl.

mea gamitu. i excl.

mea gema.

3*

mea nani.

2.
3-

mea gatva. 2.
mea detu. 3.

mea gamila,
mea dea.

The words muene, sister, nenu y son, introduce li before the
full forms with the plural and dual. In the third singular li
is used alone, thus :

Sing. 1. muenen, my sister. Sing. 1. nenun, my son.

2. muenemi, thy sister. 2. neseleno, thy son.

3. mueneliy his sister. 3. neseli, his son.

Plur. 1. mueneli gitu, our sister. Dual 1. neseli gita, son of us two.

8. [In Gaimard's vocabulary a great number of words have
these endings although the pronouns are not distinguished by
him. I give some examples: ugr entity mouth (i.e. wugneli, his
teeth); wen bagna nili y wi en baja, his hair, hair; lua nane y my
neck; luanili y his neck; veje me nili y his elbow (feseme y elbow);
dienane y my back; dieno y thy back; bili menili, his finger;
notnenane y my forehead; nomenili y his forehead; aluana, my
brother (in vocabulary for ' son ') ; berene nane y my chest, berene
no, thy chest; tchanane (for sanane) y my belly; kelenili y his leg
or foot.]

9. Demonstrative. Ida y this; pae y that.
Interrogative. £he?who? Erie ago? who are you?
Eze? what? Nu bu eze? you say what?

5. The Genitive

10. When two nouns come together the second qualifies as
an adjective: mau nepie, ashes, from nepie y fire; mele kwili y bark
(i.e. skin of tree); (alulua menuga, egg of bird; veninamenuga y
young of bird) ; me ataxia , hand of my father.

11. The preposition ne is also used: wie ne baza y hair of
head; fidiga ne me y nail of finger.

(Paina or peine is also used : qilepeina atere y tree belonging to
bush; navciaka peine wire, fish belong to water.)

For nouns of the first class used with pronouns see §§ 7, 8.

Nouns of the first class use the personal suffix when governing
a proper noun: neseli John, John's son.

458 The Santa Cruz Archipelago [pt

12. The possessives used with nouns of the second class are
given by Dr Fox: ia y clothing, na y food, ma> things to drink.
Malu ia na, my garment; malu ia mi> thy garment, malu ia>
his garment. Nana, my food; nanami y thy food; nanaii, his
food ; na na giteri, food of us two [Gaimard. has puna ana agi-
dere, i.e. puna nagiteri, bananas for us two to eat]. Wire ma na,
my water for drinking.

6. Adjectives

13. The adjective follows the noun: wire pwene, water big,
river.

14. A superlative is shown by adding the adjective fisale,
bad: fagane, good, fagane fisale, good very; pwene fisale, big
very.

7. Verbs

15. The verb is conjugated by particles preceding. These
vary for person and number. Tense is shown by a particle pre-
fixed to that showing person and number in the present and
past tenses, and by a change in the personal particles in the
future.

The first and third personal particle in the singular are the
same; so also are the first inclusive and third, in the plural and
dual ; and the first exclusive and second person, in the dual and
plural.

16. Dr Fox gives the verb gile y to call.
Present tense :

Sing. 1. none nigile, I call. Plur. 1 incl. gitu lepe gile.

3. nani ni gile, he calls. 3. detu lepe gile.

2. ago nu gile , thou callest. 1 excl. gamitu nupe gile.

2. gaiva nupe gile.

Dual 1 incl. gita lai gile.
3. dea lai gile.

1 excl. gema nuba gile.

2. gamila nuba gile.
Past tense :

Sing. 1. none gani gile. Plur. 1 incl. gitu ga lepe gile.

3. nani gai gile. 3. detu ga lepe gile.

2. ago ga nu gile. 1 excl. gamitu ga nupe gile.

2. gaiva ga nupe gile.

Dual 1 incl. gitaga lai gile.

3. dea ga lai gile.

1 excl. gema ga nuba gile.
2. gamila ga nuba gile.

n] The Santa Cruz Archipelago 459

Future Lcnsc:

Sing. 1. nane ga pe kagile. Plur. i incl. gitu gape kape gile.

3 . nani ga pe ki gile, 3 . detu ga pe se pe gile.

2. ago ga pe ku gile . 1 excl. gamitu ga pe pe gile.

2 . gaiva ga pe pe pu gile .

Dual 1 incl. gita gape sa gile.
3 . dea ga pe sa gile.

1 excl. gema ga pe ba gile.
2. gamila ga pe ba gile.

In the third person singular i is also used especially with
nouns: lamuga i pia, the man stands ; fanale i apwe, rain falls.

The verbal particles may also be used without the full pro-
noun: i paga, he runs; i su ne moe, he goes into the house; ga
pe ga le Town, I will go (to) town; ni bu> I say; i bu, he says;
nu bu, thou sayest; i to nani, he cuts him; maga ga i en, the
tide has ebbed.

17. The negative is taie, at the end of the clause : nani i luine
ago taie, he knows thee not.

There are some negative verbs: moi, not to know, be igno-
rant ; sapene, not to want ; gai, not to do ; nane ni moi nani, I do
not know him.

18. Imperative. The short personal particle ku (second
singular) is used in the imperative : ku lu ne die detu! sit behind
them ! ku lu ne vagal sit on the stone ! ku su kipof take it down !
(ku mage! come here! kutui ne melune! throw him in the sea!).

The word igai is used as prohibitive: ku la igai, aluana,
don't take it, my friend.

8. Adverbs

19. Directive. Ma, hither; ku la ki ma, bring; la, take;
po, down (?), ku su kipo, take it down.

20 . Interrogative . Ki nana ? when ?

Mene? where? / ma mene? he comes hither where? ku le
mene? thou goest where?

Pes? why?

Time. Da muda, to-day ; ki mui, to-morrow ; pene, yesterday ;
mevetinte, morning; ne dumi, in the night, ne mari, in the day,
fenela mele ne dumi, tvoie fenela ne mari, the moon shines at
night, the sun shines by day; ida, now; ma, presently; fagane,
always, i numi fagane, he does it always; emeio, lebu, again.

4-uu The Santa Cruz Archipelago [pt

21. Place. Ida, here; fatiogo, near; agaule, far; fo«£, up;
og'a, down, /^m <z£a lenoe, he spits down on ground (ne pene,
above, ku lili nepene, place it on top ; ne maga, on shore).

22.. Manner, Cause, etc. Neneda, like this, so; nenepae,
like that, thus; fisale, very; taie, no, not; ie, yes.

9. Prepositions

23. Simple. Ate, at, on, into (locative): * lu ne moe, he stays
in the house; i su ne moe, he enters the house \ female i apwe ne
baza, rain falls on the hill.

Ni, gni, motion to: ni bu gne no, I say to thee; i bu gni, he
says to him.

Mena, motion from: i paga mena detu, he runs from them
[Gaimard: ku le mena, ote-toi de Ik].

Wate, along with : i wana watenane, he eats with me ; zvateno,
with thee; wate, with him.

Ie, with (instrumental) : ma ga i iu ie wire, soon washed with
water; i to nane ie togi, he cut me with a knife.

(Pe, peine, peina : pelenoi, of the earth ; peine meneliga, of the
sky.)

(Ah, belonging to: mamane alo Vana, language of Vana.)

24. Compound. Many of these are formed by ne and a
local noun:

Nome, face: * hi ne nome nane, he stays in front of me.

Die, back: ku lu ne die detu, sit (thou) behind them; ne die
nane, on my back.

Tua, between: lamuga i pia ne tua puna wafedue, the man
stands between the banana and coconut.

Pwa, under: katoni i mepue nepwa moe, the rat sleeps under
the house.

(Belona, against (Mota goto): ku lili belona, place in the way
of; leile ere belona qoe, to make a fence to keep out pigs.)

10. Conjunctions

25. Dr Fox has two conjunctions in the vocabulary wa, and,
and pa, but. These are, however, identical with the Mota, and
are probably due to the medium by which the words were
obtained.

n] The Santa Cruz Archipelago 461

11. Numerals

26. Cardinal. {Ti /«), ti liogo y one; ta ru {tar) y two; te lu y
three; ta va y four; te li y five; ta wo y six; te bi> seven; ta pzva
(tavwa), eight; ta dru (tadu), nine; gau uluga {gauluga) y ten.

[These agree with Gaimard except that he omits ti liogo y
and has tawa y eight, tanru y nine, and kauluga, ten.]

Dr Fox omits ti lu, and Dr Ivens has the note that ti liogo is
'one* when used with uluga.

[Gaimard 's numerals for Tanema and Taneanu differ:

Tanema: kero y one; lalu y two; raru, three; rava y four; teri y
five; ro y six; rumbi, seven; lembidua y eight; tuarendi y nine;
indonolo, ten.

Taneanu: iune y one; tilu y two; teve y three; teva y four; tili y
five; tuo y six; timbi y seven; tua y eight; tindi y nine; tenaulu y
ten 1 .]

For the unit above 'ten/ Dr Fox has me le y and Dr Ivens
lemene: uluga me le ti liogo , eleven {uluga ti liogo lemene telu y
thirteen).

The tens are counted by the simple numeral following : uga
ta ru y twenty; uga te lu y thirty.

*A hundred' is tea (dea). Dr Ivens has: (dea ti liogo lemene
telu y a hundred and three, dea tiliogo belege y a hundred and ten).

27. Ordinal, multiplicative and distributive numerals are
not recorded.

28. Interrogative. Tevi? how many?

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Ray, Sidney Herbert, 1858-1939.

A comparative study of the Melanesian Island
languages.

Reprint of the 1926 ed. published by the Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, Eng.

Bibliography: p.

1. Melanesian languages. I. Title.
i PL6201.R3 1978 499'.5 75-35151
ISBN 0-404-14166-8